8:44 Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the {l} beginning, and {m} abode not in the {n} truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his {o} own: for he is a liar, and the {p} father of it.
(l) From the beginning of the world: for as soon as man was made, the devil cast him headlong into death.
(m) That is, did not continue constantly, or did not remain.
(n) That is, in faithfulness and uprightness, that is, he did not remain in the manner in which he was created.
(o) Even from his own head, and from his own mind or disposition.
(p) The author of it.
8:44 Ye are of [your] father, the devil. There are two households: that of God, composed of his children; and that of the devil, composed of his children. All who hear the voice of Christ become God's children by adoption (Ro 8:15-17), and all who refuse to hear him, do so because they belong to the devil's household and hear his voice. They will do the lusts of their father.
He was a murderer from the beginning. He caused the first murder, moves those who do murder, and those who seek to kill Christ are of his spirit.
8:44 He was a murderer - In inclination, from the beginning - Of his becoming a devil; and abode not in the truth - Commencing murderer and liar at the same time. And certainly he was a killer of men (as the Greek word properly signifies) from the beginning of the world: for from the very creation he designed and contrived the ruin of men. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own - For he is the proper parent, and, as it were, creator of it. See the origin not only of lies, but of evil in general!
8:41-47 Satan prompts men to excesses by which they murder themselves and others, while what he puts into the mind tends to ruin men's souls. He is the great promoter of falsehood of every kind. He is a liar, all his temptations are carried on by his calling evil good, and good evil, and promising freedom in sin. He is the author of all lies; whom liars resemble and obey, with whom all liars shall have their portion for ever. The special lusts of the devil are spiritual wickedness, the lusts of the mind, and corrupt reasonings, pride and envy, wrath and malice, enmity to good, and enticing others to evil. By the truth, here understand the revealed will of God as to the salvation of men by Jesus Christ, the truth Christ was now preaching, and which the Jews opposed.
